3of5TAMPA, FL - SEPTERMBER 8: Dee Ford #55 of the San Francisco 49ers sits in the locker room prior to the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on September 8, 2019 in Tampa, Florida. The 49ers defeated the Buccaneers 31-17. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images)Photo: Michael Zagaris / Getty Images

4of5Niners radio analyst Tim Ryan is in hot water after saying Lamar Jackson’s skin color gave the black QB an advantage.Photo: Jeff Chiu / AP

5of5Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has run for 977 yards this season, including 101 against the 49ers on Sunday.Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images

BRADENTON, Fla, — Two of the 49ers’ most prominent African American players came out in strong support of Tim Ryan on Thursday, a day after the team’s radio analyst was suspended for one game for saying Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson’s “dark skin color with a dark football” gave him an advantage when it came to faking handoffs.

Pro Bowl cornerback Richard Sherman and defensive end Dee Ford were among those who said they didn’t take Ryan’s comment as malicious or racist.

“It’s a play where he’s talking football and he could have used better verbiage,” Sherman said. “But I don’t think anybody in this locker room has taken it offensively. He’s apologized. And we know his character. Hopefully, this can blow over and we can move past it.”

Said Ford: “We know what he was trying to say. It’s just the era we live in. It’s just messed up. But internally, we’ve got his back.”

On Monday, a day after the 49ers’ 20-17 loss to the Ravens, Ryan discussed Jackson’s effectiveness on zone-read plays during Ryan’s weekly appearance on KNBR’s “Murph and Mac” show.

49ers Broadcaster Suspended

“He’s really good at that fake, Lamar Jackson, but when you consider his dark skin color with a dark football with a dark uniform, you could not see that thing,” Ryan said. “I mean, you literally could not see when he was in and out of the mesh point.”

Sherman agreed with the substance of Ryan’s comments.

“Honestly, I wasn’t as outraged as everyone else,” Sherman said. “I understand how it can be taken under a certain context and be offensive to some. But if you’re saying, ‘Hey, this is a brown ball, they are wearing dark colors and he has brown arms,’ honestly, we were having trouble seeing it on film.

“And sometimes he’s swinging his arm really fast and you look up and (running back Mark) Ingram is running it. So it was technically a valid point. But you can always phrase things better. You can always phrase things and not say ‘his black skin.’”

Ryan, 52, a former NFL defensive lineman, has worked for the 49ers since 2014 after spending the previous 12 seasons as a Fox TV analyst.

He is a constant presence at the 49ers’ practices and often is around the field speaking with coaches and players.

Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who is close friends with Ryan, vouched for his character.

“I’ve always as a human being tried to judge people as a human being on how I interact with them,” Saleh said. “I love the man. He’s a very genuine human being. I know he knows he made a mistake.”

On Thursday, Ryan’s suspension was addressed on the “Murph and Mac” show, on which Ryan has been a frequent guest since he joined the 49ers five years ago.

“I truly believe in my heart, I don’t think Tim Ryan is a hateful person,” co-host Paul McCaffrey said. “I don’t think Tim Ryan is a racist. I do think, however, what he said, it’s not OK.”

Ryan’s radio partner, 49ers’ play-by-play man Greg Papa, also discussed Ryan’s suspension on the KNBR show he hosts with John Lund.

“What he was saying about Lamar Jackson speaks to the detail very few analysts would even notice what he was talking about,” Papa said. “He sees things differently, but it was too much detail.”

Sherman and Ford said Ryan was at the team hotel in Sarasota and was personally apologizing to players.

“He walked up to me earlier and before he even said anything, I told him, ‘I’ve got your back,’” Ford said. “There’s not one type of (racist) bone in his body — you know what type of bone I’m talking about. So I’ve got his back. We put that to bed really fast.”

The 49ers announced Thursday that Dennis Brown will replace Ryan on the broadcast for Sunday’s game in New Orleans. Brown, 52, a former defensive lineman with the team, is a host on the 49ers’ pre- and postgame shows on radio.

Eric Branch has worked at the San Francisco Chronicle since 2011 as the 49ers beat writer. Before that, he covered the 49ers for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat in 2010. Since he began his career in journalism in 1997 in Logansport, Ind., he’s covered events ranging from archery tournaments to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.